How to Fight a Dragon (or Eight)
by El Burrito
Summary: Final Fantasy VI. In the wreckage of the World of Ruin, the group scrambles to come back together to face what's ahead. It isn't easy to work as a team when you no longer feel like one...
1. Lightning

When they fought the first dragon, they were a group member down.

Well, actually, they were down more than one. Edgar, Sabin, Celes and Setzer were trying to pretend that they were a convincing team, but in all honesty having a few of his friends back just reminded Edgar how many were missing. The airship was too quiet without Relm and Gau arguing and tearing around, and Setzer was free to make perverted statements during meals without Cyan to get worked up and choke on his food. Whenever she thought no one was looking Celes would almost religiously run her fingers over that worn, fraying bandana.

Edgar was particularly haunted by the one person they knew was alive and well, but the one they had no hope of running into for a joyful reunion.

He had been initially elated, and then disappointed by Sabin and Celes's story: that she had moved on, was happier without them than she'd ever been on the team, that she didn't want to see them again. He thought about her often, her sad, frequently troubled face and the way she seemed to carry the weight of the world on her skinny little shoulders. He was glad that she was doing better, and if it meant he had to stay away from her, well, he could do that.

So when Sabin got intensely invested in following a bird, Edgar threw everything into forgetting the green-haired Esper-girl and helping his brother find their old friend.

Sabin had always seemed to have a soft spot for the stilted, formal stranger he'd dragged back with him after jumping off their boat, and then down waterfalls and through deep ocean trenches. If Edgar couldn't have the person whose presence he missed most keenly, the least he could do was help his teammates find theirs.

So they ended up wandering up to the top of a pub, and then, inexplicably, deep into a cave, and now they were in a dank room with a dragon flailing about madly, shooting lightning into the roof and causing dirt and stones to rain down around them.

"Sabin, _do something_!" Setzer shouted, his hands over his head to deflect the stones, leaping aside as the dragon's tail swept by him.

Sabin frowned, followed the dragon's movements for a few seconds, then leapt straight at it.

Duncan had taught Edgar's twin the new move "Bum rush" only the day before, and Edgar had to admit it was impressive watching the man fly around the giant lizard, fists flying. But when Sabin jumped back down in line beside him, he saw that blood bubbled from his knuckles and the dragon went on unscathed.

"It didn't even feel that," Sabin frowned, "What are dragons weak to? Some sort of magic?"

Edgar tried to weigh it up visually. It had cornered Setzer and was shooting sparks of electricity at him.

"It's a lightning dragon," he volunteered, "What are lightning dragons weak to?" He directed the question in particular at Celes, who shook her head.

"I don't know," she shrugged, "I don't have that feel for magic, I can only get inside it to know how to block it, not to… just understand it." The words 'like Terra could' were unsaid, but they might as well have been spoken. She raised her staff as a bolt of electricity flew towards them, gritting her teeth against the force as she deflected it, but was left powerless as the monster raked its claws across her shoulder.

She dropped to the ground. Both Setzer and Edgar threw a phoenix down at her. As she stood up unsteadily, Sabin mouthed the words to summon Life back to her. With a swing of its tail, the dragon knocked her down again.

With a sigh, Edgar pulled out his drill. It was not going to be an easy battle.

Once it was finally over, it took them three days to recover. Cyan made them all disgusting soup and lemonade on the first day, and then seemingly got distracted from nursing duties. He tiptoed around, more awkward and restrained than usual, and spent a lot of time alone.

"I don't ever want to fight another dragon," Setzer moaned early on, "Not like that, at least."

Edgar couldn't help but agree. How were they meant to fight as a team, when they didn't feel anything like one?


	2. Dirt

The next dragon they fought was an unexpected victory.

Gau was back on the ship now, prowling about and eating everything he could get his hands on. Edgar couldn't help but notice the change in the boy – another year on the Veldt had put more muscle over his arms and shoulders, and his skinny concave boy chest was starting to look more like a young man's. He'd also picked up some powerful new moves.

The return of Gau and Cyan had brightened Sabin's mood a lot. He now whistled as he moved about, and the three had begun rising before dawn to train together. Some days, when those three were fighting endless groups of monsters or exploring new caves, Edgar felt an alien stab of jealousy. Here was his brother, happy and at peace, while he, Setzer and Celes were left on the ship mourning those who were respectively gone, dead, and missing.

Sabin tried his hardest to cheer them up, which Edgar was aware must have been frustrating. He invited Celes to train with them, took Edgar hunting, and tracked down some rare machinery to help Setzer upgrade the Falcon. And then, when none of that raised their moods to his liking, and in his most miscalculated event thus far, planned a day at the opera for the four of them.

Despite Setzer's promise after the last battle, they couldn't turn away and let the powerful Dirt dragon kill the audience and theatre staff.

This time, though, Sabin immediately took charge.

"Celes, Setzer, I want float on all of us, and don't let our health drop! Edgar, I'm going to Aerial Ace him and then while he's concentrating on me come in with the chainsaw!" And they were off.

All in all the battle went a lot better. They still ran through most of their Phoenix Downs and had to carry Setzer back to the airship, but Sabin was grinning as he retold the story to their teammates, doling out excessive praise to all of his comrades.

"And Celes was basically _holding the floor together_ with her Rune, stopping all the little civilians from falling straight to hell. And this guy's crossbow!" He clapped his brother on the back. Edgar suddenly remembered, with a swell of joy, how it had been, why it had been worth it all that time ago. All of them sitting around recapping a battle, with the satisfaction of a hard-earned victory, alternately praising and mocking each other.

"Well someone had to pick up the slack," he said pointedly, "When you _forgot_ how to use your one air move, and just stood there looking confused!"

Cyan, Celes and Gau burst into laughter, over Sabin's cries of, "It's true, it's true!"


End file.
